When the Rockies pulled top prospect Jhoulys Chacin from his start at
Double-A last night “as a precaution for possible, future
organizational moves” there was speculation that a major trade was coming, but instead they’re promoting him to the big leagues to work out of the bullpen following news that Manny Corpas is headed for elbow surgery.

Last year was Chacin’s first full season as a pro and he went 18-3 with
a 2.03 ERA in 28 starts between two levels of Single-A as a
20-year-old, earning Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year honors
from MLB.com and ranking as the Rockies’ second-best prospect behind
Dexter Fowler according to Baseball America.

Chacin hasn’t been quite as dominant while moving up to Double-A this
season, but his 3.14 ERA and 86/35 K/BB ratio in 103.1 innings there is
extremely impressive for someone who won’t be 22 years old for another
six months. Unlike many top pitching prospects his strikeout numbers
haven’t been off the charts, with only 323 in 390 career innings.

However, to some extent Chacin pitches to contact with a hard sinker
that has induced 60 percent ground balls. Toss in solid control for
someone so young and the 6-foot-3 right-hander projects as a possible
No. 2 starter with some ace potential, but the Rockies are definitely
taking a risk by having him skip Triple-A to join their bullpen as a
21-year-old with 18 total starts above Single-A.

Colorado has a 1.5-game lead in the Wild Card race and the Rockies’
bullpen has been a relative weakness, so they no doubt think that the
possibility of Chacin having a big impact as a setup man makes it
worthwhile to risk some of his long-term development for a short-term
gain. We’ll see, but I’d certainly spend the next week trying to swing
a deal for a veteran reliever before rushing my top prospect to the
majors.

Tempers flared between the Astros and Rangers on Monday in Arlington. In the bottom of the second inning, Astros starter Collin McHugh threw a first-pitch fastball inside to Rangers outfielder Carlos Gomez. Gomez didn’t like it, so he stared at McHugh for a few seconds. Gomez fouled off the next pitch and jawed at McHugh before taking a few steps towards the mound. McHugh came in and the benches emptied. Fortunately, order was quickly restored and both teams were issued warnings.

The Astros and Rangers had a benches-clearing incident earlier this season as well. In a game in Houston on May 1, Astros starter Lance McCullers threw inside to Mike Napoli, which caused the benches to spill out onto the field. McHugh also hit Gomez with a first pitch fastball in the second inning on August 31 and Mike Fiers did the same in the second inning on August 12. As a result, Gomez thinks the Astros have it out for him. Via Levi Weaver of WFAA Sports:

The second pitch, he took a big swing and fouled it off and took about five steps out toward the mound, looking me straight in the eye. I just asked him if we had a problem. It was a rhetorical question because, clearly, he’s got a problem with me. I don’t exactly know what it is, but whatever the case, he came out and I asked him what the issue was and he said, ‘Yeah, I got a problem with you.’ That was it. Everybody else was out there by that point in time. The game goes on. I don’t want to spend any more mental effort thinking about Carlos Gomez.

The series resumes on Tuesday night as Dallas Keuchel will oppose Cole Hamels. It will be interesting to see if the drama bleeds over into this one.

In the bottom of the second inning of Monday night’s game at Busch Stadium, Cubs shortstop Addison Russell dove into the stands down the left field line in an attempt to catch a foul ball. A Cardinals fan holding a tray of nachos was in Russell’s path and had his tasty treat knocked onto the dirt in front of the stands. Russell did the fan a solid, though, bringing him a new tray of nachos and posed for a selfie. The fan was also later seen taking selfies with other fans.

“A guy fell into him and got nacho cheese on his arm and now he’s taking pictures and signing autographs. It shows you where our society’s at right now with all that stuff.”

It wasn’t like Lester had a poor outing and that’s why he was salty. The lefty yielded just one run on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over six innings. Lester just, uh, hates selfies, I guess? I’m also not sure how the whole scenario is a reflection of American society, unless he means that people can turn a disappointing situation into a fun and heartwarming situation.

At least Russell and Cubs manager Joe Maddon had a good sense of humor about it. Maddon said the whole thing was “pretty entertaining.” Russell said, “You don’t get between a man and his nachos.”